Woods Mountain (12,940) by Brian Schultz Tuesday September 3, 2013
Roundtrip mileage: 6.4 miles from Herman Gulch trailhead
Elevation gain: 2,500'
Start to finish: 4 hours 25 minutes
The weather forecast finally improved to only 30% chance of storms/showers so I took advantage of sleeping in late. There weren't very many vehicles in the parking lot when I departed at 8:10 AM on the Herman Gulch trail. I quickly reached the Watrous trail junction, turned right, and continued to the junction of the Watrous and Bard trails. A left turn on the Watrous trail leads all the way to the Woods/Parnassus saddle and it's only a short jaunt up the ridge to Woods' summit from there. It's an easy hike and I arrived on top at 10:15.
I expected to have the summit to myself on this midweek day but another hiker was on top, a woman from Denver named Kerry, and we chatted for over an hour under pleasant, sunny skies. This was a nice summit to sit back and enjoy the views and wrap up my summer climbing in Colorado.
We both departed at 11:25 and within minutes met a hiker ascending with a rather large backpack. I jokingly asked if he was spending the night on top and he replied that it was his birthday and the pack was full of beer. After wishing him a happy birthday, we continued down and just before reaching the saddle came upon two more hikers. Kerry stayed a bit to chat with them while I pushed on. I hiked out non-stop and arrived back at the parking lot at 12:35. This is a great hike if you're looking for something easy and short.
